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VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran will help shed light on the box of one of its Vienna-based diplomats who were arrested in Germany on a suspected plot to carry out a bomb attack on an exiled Iranian opposition group, Austria said on Wednesday .
The case cast a shadow over Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Austria on Wednesday At the time of the decision to withdraw and reinstate sanctions on Tehran.
"We expect full clarification in this connection, Mr President, for the sake of this clarification," Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said in a statement to reporters after meeting Rouhani.
Rouhani did not mention the diplomat in his remarks and the two leaders took no questions.
Austria summoned Iran's ambassador over the box on Monday and said it was stripping the arrested Iranian of his diplomatic status.
Belgian authorities identified the diplomat as 46-year-old Assadollah A and said he is suspected of having been in contact with two people arrested in Belgium with 500 grams of homemade explosive TATP and a detonation device in their car.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) – The umbrella organization of opposition groups in exile that seek an end to Shi'ite Muslim clerical rule in Iran.
Belgium also issued a European arrest warrant for a man of Iranian origin being held in France.
U.S. President Donald Trump's Lawyer Rudy Giuliani as well as European and Arab Ministers attended the NCRI meeting.
The NCRI held a small protest against Rouhani's visit on the edge of the area of central Vienna that police sealed off.
Foreign ministers from the remaining signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal – Iran, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China – meet in Vienna on Friday to discuss salvaging the agreement.
European powers are putting together an economic package aimed at the Iranian deal by shielding Iran from some of the impact of U.S. sanctions resuming. Rouhani has said Iran will stay in the agreement if its interests are preserved.
An Iranian official said Rouhani was also at the head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is policing the restrictions on Iran's atomic activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Rouhani's one-day visit to Austria followed by the last minute on unspecified security grounds.
Reporting by Francois Murphy with additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Ankara and Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich in Vienna; Editing by Mark Heinrich
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